1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air filtering apparatus in a liquid electrophotographic printer, and more particularly, an air filtering apparatus for effectively sucking air in the liquid electrophotographic printer and removing pollutants contained in the air.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid electrophotographic printer emits various types of pollutants, such as solvent and carbon materials and ozone, during a developing and printing process. The pollutants are generated from printing mechanisms and materials when a printable image is developed and printed on a sheet of paper by using the printing, materials in the developing and printing process. Air inside of the printer is contaminated with the pollutants which cause serious problems against both the printable image and the printing mechanisms. Moreover, the air containing the pollutants has a more harmful effects on human being if it is blown out of the printer.
The solvent evaporates during the developing process into the air inside of the printer and sticks to a laser scanner and a photoreceptor web bearing the printable image in the printer while the carbon material is generated during drying the printable image formed on the photoreceptor web and transferring the printable image from the photoreceptor web to the sheet of paper in the developing and printing process. The ozone is generated from a plurality of chargers disposed adjacent to the photoreceptor web during initializing and changing the photoreceptor web with a high voltage.
Most of the pollutants are not effectively removed in a conventional printer. Although a filtering apparatus is installed in the printer to eliminate the solvent contained in the air, neither the structure of a duct of the filtering apparatus nor the location of the duct installed inside of the printer is enough to filter the air containing the pollutants. Since the air containing the pollutants is not efficiently sucked into the duct, the pollutants can not be properly removed from the printer. Therefore, a life span of the printer is shortened, and the quality of the printed image becomes deteriorated.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a filtering apparatus able to protect mechanical parts and maintain the quality of a printed image.
It is another object to provide a filtering apparatus in a printer able to effectively remove pollutants contained in air inside of the printer.
It is yet another object to provide a filtering apparatus able to filter air containing pollutants generated from printing materials used in a printer.
It is still another object to provide a filter apparatus able to uniformly suck air near a charger, developing unit, and a photoreceptor web in a printer.
It is a further object to provide a filtering apparatus suitable for use with a charger initializing or charging a photoreceptor web during a developing and printing process.
It is also an object to provide a filtering apparatus having a duct able to be mounted on a charger initializing or charging a photoreceptor web in a printer.
These and other objects may be achieved by providing a liquid electrophotographic printer with a filtering apparatus including a charger having a discharge wire charging a photoreceptor web to a predetermined level of electric potential, a laser scanner forming an electrostatic latent image on the charged photoreceptor web, a development unit developing the electrostatic latent image to a printable image, a transfer unit printing the printable image on a sheet of paper, a suction device having a duct mounted on the charger and sucking air in the printer, and a filtering device filtering pollutants contained in the air sucked by the suction device.
The suction device of the air filtering apparatus includes a discharge wire connected to a voltage source, a holder supporting the discharge wire, a grid net attached to one side of the holder and facing the photoreceptor web, a plurality of openings formed on the holder, a cover coupled to the other side of the holder, a hollow portion formed inside of the cover, a slot formed on the cover and connecting the openings to the hollow portion, an exhaust hole connected to one end of the hollow portion, and a suction pump connected to the exhaust hole and sucking air inside of the printer through the openings, the slot, the exhaust hole, and the exhaust hole.
The slot varies in width from one end to the other end of the slot. The width of the slot disposed remote from the exhaust hole is greater than the slot disposed adjacent to the exhaust hole. The width of the slot increases from one end of the slot to the other end of the slot.
The suction device includes a discharge wire connected to a voltage source, a shield plate accommodating the discharge wire, a plurality of slots formed on the shield plate, a holder attached to the shield plate, a passage formed between the shield plate and the holder, and an exhaust hole formed on one end of the passage. Air around the discharge wire is sucked through the slots, the passage, and the exhaust hole.
The suction device is mounted on a main charger initializing the photoreceptor web. A plurality of suction devices mounted on each corresponding charger charging the photoreceptor web are disposed adjacent to each corresponding development unit. Each exhaust hole of the suction devices is connected to a shared pipe. The suction pump is connected to the shared pipe. A plurality of filters suitable to filter pollutants such as solvent and carbon materials and ozone are connected to the suction pump.
The suction devices disposed adjacent to the transfer unit includes a main duct having two branch ducts disposed adjacent to both sides of the transfer unit and slots formed on the branch ducts. An exhaust hole is formed on one end of the main duct and coupled to a suction pump. A plurality of filters are connected to the suction pump in order to remove pollutants contained in the air inside of the printer.